Six days later. September 16th, 2267. 10:35 Rose Building Roof
Elias was leaning on a metal support holding one of their skylights in place. He had found the roof to be oddly calming to him. Ironic, since he bore witness to a traitorous heathen that he used to not only respect but work with get murdered in cold blood in front of his eyes. And the very same location that same individual betrayed his trust by having intercourse with his fiancé.
It was also the place he knew that his ex-fiancé needed to be dealt with. He looked down at the data slate in his hand. A map was displayed along with a marker. The marker represented Daphne’s location, all Xenuians had tracking devices in them. Using the tracking devices was very limited, but the law as written didn’t apply to territory outside of Xenuian space.
Linus then walked out onto the rough and stood at attention in front of Linus.
“Thank you. What do you know?” Elias asked calmly.
“She’s reached out to Viviana and Katherina, both in messages and in person. The return messages were short and to the point. The in-person contacts were handled professionally and according to your orders,” Linus paused a moment, “I think it’s a matter of time before the brave faces that they have put up thus far fade away.”
“I agree. Tell me, how in the heavens can she afford this apartment?”
Linus shrugged, “We are not yet sure. I think it’s safe to say she’s been creating a slush fund of some sort, but all credits were accounted for in our last review of our finances.”
Elias chuckled to himself, “Well played girl, well played.”
“Sir?”
“She doesn’t come from a wealthy family, nor does she have any political connections to the wealthy families,” Elias said.
“Which means she didn’t bring these credits with her…” Linus’ mouth widened in surprise, “She cooked the books then. My word.”
“Or she had a secondary skimming job running,” Elias shook his head as he looked at his feet, “Her greed most likely caused the goody-two-shoes at the merchant bank to fix their rounding bug that we took advantage of.”
“What do you want to do?”
“A great number of things, if I’m being honest. Do we know where she’s hidden these credits?”
Linus shook his head, “Not technically no, we think she stashed the money in one of the less reputable banks.”
“Explain.”
“They comply with the minimum regulations related to banking. But they will stretch reporting laws until they begin tearing. It’s not difficult to hide money in that bank for years before withdrawing it before anyone knows,” Linus then shook his head as he looked at Elias, “And before you ask it, I have never seen security quite like this in a bank. There’s no getting past their firewalls and encryption.”
“How long would you need?”
Linus smirked, “It would be easier to just blackmail or capture an executive and get their keys that way. Otherwise, we’re talking years of code-cracking to get into their network.”
“Talk with Castor, I want to find the source of these credits and take them from her. Knowing her she isn’t storing it in a manner that is as sophisticated as she believes it to be. What else do you have to report?”
“If I were to take a pulse of the crew, I’d say it’s fractured. Everyone is tired, and with the election fast approaching it feels like a lot of the work we’re doing is all for naught,” Linus spoke with brutal honesty, “It’s hard to stay motivated when everything we do seems to fail, or not work as intended. Or not matter at all.”
“I suppose one of my failings is not managing the team’s work-life balance. Though I doubt that’s an easy thing to do in enemy territory,” Elias started to monologue but then paused, “Where are we at related to our various projects?”
“My team is all caught up. We’ve exhausted our leads with the extraneous cases that we were investigating,” Linus paused then looked at Elias, “I believe your gut, that someone or a group of people is out there working and conspiring against us. But rather maddeningly there is no evidence to prove that, and even running with the theory that false evidence was planted, we’ve uncovered nothing to prove that enemy agents are aware of our existence.”
“I know. I know that I’m right, their military hasn’t come here and put an end to this foolishness, hell the colonials didn’t bother trying to validate our fake official messages,” Elias sighed, “Whoever out there is…”
Linus finished the paused sentence, “Better than us. So much better than us. At least the void work continues unmolested on the slip gate. The internal structural bracing is nearly finished. Power conduits began being put in place too.”
Elias nodded, “That puts us what, a week ahead of schedule?”
“Thereabouts.”
“Consider your team on a well-deserved vacation. We’ll reconvene in a week and review what does or doesn’t need to be worked on,” Elias said, “There is a curfew of 23:00, overnight stay requests need to be sent to me for review. If anyone lies on these forms, they will be confined to this facility. Brutal honesty on the request is a requirement.”
“I will share that with my team,” Linus began to turn but paused halfway through, “Don’t suppose everyone else is on vacation now too?”
“They will be by noon, though I suppose because of what I just said I’ll need to get back to work and let them know before the rumor mill starts.”
Linus nodded with a smile then excitedly headed toward the door. Elias stood up and slowly walked to the office. Castor and Viviana both looked at Elias with puppy dog eyes, they knew something was happening. To their great surprise and delight, Elias was starting a team-wide vacation. They both looked anxious to leave the room, but Elias grinned when they had only listened to part of the message.
The happy feelings were soured somewhat when they realized they still had an hour left to work. An hour Elias would point out that the pair did literally nothing. Elias took that time to hold an informal meeting with everyone else who was in the building. Excitement about vacation was not dissimilar to the pair in the office, but like them, they also didn’t hear the part that it didn’t start until noon.
Eventually, the hour did come to pass. There was a mad dash, as much as one could expect, for ten people in that building to just get up and leave. That was when the human cost hit Elias hard. They had come with twenty, eight were now dead and one exiled. The remaining eleven were all that remained.
13:25 Fairy Fields Square
Elias had spent the first hour of his vacation enjoying a walk around a green space in the center of the commercial district. The grass, trees, and ponds were all exquisitely maintained. He sat on a wooden park bench and watched the local birds, not dissimilar to ducks from Earth or the avians native to Nu Prime, swim around lazily in the pond.
The sun was shining brightly this afternoon. Several families and couples were enjoying the nice fall day. Everyone seemed outwardly to be happy. All save Elias. Inside he was a ball of turmoil.
While he was enjoying the fresh air, Elias was taking the opportunity to be reflective. The mission was moving forward, in fact, they were ahead of schedule. But the human cost to the mission thus far wounded him deeply. None more so than his own fiancé betraying him in such a blatant and cowardly manner.
Elias had come to a painful conclusion regarding his betrothal. So desperate was he to get married that he neglected to consider the quality of his partner. That he was so old when he got betrothed should have been a sign to him that he wasn’t going to receive a valued woman in marriage. He sighed when he played that conclusion over inside his head.
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“Why did I block that possibility out?” Elias said to himself quietly.
He smiled as he shook his head. Of course, he knew the answer to that question. He wasn’t a fool. The simple answer that he had for so long ignored was that, unlike his siblings, he wasn’t viewed favorably by anyone. His appearance was average, unlike his siblings who were gorgeous. His scholastic records and capabilities were modest and within expectations but never exceeded them, again unlike his siblings.
While he was the eldest, and ultimate inheritor of the family patriarchy, that didn’t make up for his numerous deficiencies. It didn’t help that his parents gave up on his future at the tender age of fourteen. They only reached out to different families to seek a willing partner for him but all that resulted in was rejection and pain. Pain in the form of a particularly troubled young woman who was seen as unmarriable.
Elias grinned as he looked at the grass. She had always been unmarriable, her family saw Elias as a means to save face. They knew what they were doing. The betrothal was a setup to entrap another family in shared shame over a member being re-educated.
They knew Elias would go to great lengths to avoid that. As he stood in the park, he would not stand for that, Elias resolved himself to bring his former fiancé in from exile before they returned home. He would make sure both she and her family shared that shame. And do so in a way to avoid that shame himself.
Draco and Katherina then came into focus as the young couple walked hand in hand in the park. Katherina waved at Elias. He just nodded but was surprised when Draco motioned to her and then ran over to him.
“You know we’re on vacation, you don’t have to think about work,” Elias said with a smirk.
“Yeah, I’m aware of that,” Draco paused and looked uncomfortable with what he wanted to speak about, “She reached out to Katherina shortly after we left. We didn’t respond but then she magically appeared at the deli where we were to have lunch.”
Elias sighed.
“We both told her we couldn’t interact with her anymore but then she mentioned getting together at a nightclub tonight with everyone.”
“Of course, why doesn’t that surprise me? Enjoy your free time Draco, but you must avoid her. If you must, use me as an excuse, after all, I did order you to avoid her.”
Draco nodded, “I will do just that, but Katherina shared a deep friendship with her, she feels guilty that her friend is no longer with us. And she always seems to know where we will be.”
“As disgusting and vile as her personality may be, Daphne will never be called stupid. She is far more intelligent and cunning the most give her due credit,” Elias said, “Enjoy your time off. We will have to deal with her sooner than later.”
“I will try to do that,” Draco smiled and nodded.
Elias swore he heard a frustrated Katherina ask him how the hell Daphne knew they were in the park. Though he wasn’t sure he could trust his hearing. He stood up and began to take a stroll around the park and enjoy the fresh air.
Perhaps his station back home would change if their mission was ultimately successful. Even with their current losses, they were within acceptable projections. Projections he didn’t share with his team, for good reason. His leaders didn’t think more than six individuals would survive. He chuckled at that; Elias was viewing the mission as a failure despite having roughly double that actively alive at the moment.
The rest of the afternoon was quite pleasant for Elias. He spent some time in a shopping mall. Elias didn’t care for the number of people that were there, nor did he care for the rampant capitalism exhibited there. So much stuff for sale and yet so little was needed or necessary for everyday life. He had no doubts about the need of the Xenuians to lord over the rest of humanity, for the rest of humanity had failed in leading the people towards its destiny.
18:15 Rose Building – Dining Room
Elias was eating dinner in the eerily quiet building alone. The meal’s portion was made for just one, a decision he regretted as he had quietly become a fan of what the locals called leftovers. Everyone had requested to stay overnight in various parts of the colony. Elias was reluctant to approve them all, but he did so.
The truth was he needed them focused and at their best. He could overlook a lone evening of them drinking and whoring it up if that’s all that came from it. Besides, he had two official couples amongst the remaining crew. The memories of being at a nightclub may drive the others from attending such a place.
In any case, he sat at the dining room table alone. Eating a bland meal of chicken, mashed potatoes, and gravy. The television could be faintly heard on the second floor, a rather dull game of baseball was being broadcast by a pair of semi-pro teams. Elias had grown quite fond of live sports, something he felt the Confederacy could offer to the Union of Xenu. In fact, that was the only thing he thought was beneficial to his people.
Once his meal was done, he walked up the stairs and stretched out on the comfortable couch. It was about to be the bottom of the seventh inning. The game was back on after a short commercial break. Just as the first pitch was about to be thrown in the inning the broadcast swapped over to one of the local news anchors.
“This is George Anderson with the Action Ten news with an urgent news break. A bomb was detonated on a commuter bus as it crossed into the entertainment district. The reports are early but all lives on the bus are feared lost. The police have not yet commented on any loss of life of those near the explosion. Current rumors are that bystanders were caught within the blast.”
The image on the screen then panned to a high-flying drone looking down. It wasn’t quite in focus, but the burning wreckage of the boss appeared in the middle of the street. Secondary explosions were seen in its hydrogen fuel cells and batteries. Several cars and trucks around the blown-out bus appeared to suffer catastrophic damage.
Elias jumped out of the couch, “No… Oh, my fucking God no!”
“I was just handed a note just now and on the Extra-Net the Sons of Fury have claimed responsibility for this heinous act. I must stress this is an unconfirmed statement and has not been corroborated by the police at this time. We can see dozens of police and paramedics are already on the scene or rolling up to it. We will update everyone when we know more.”
Elias ran upstairs and headed straight towards his office. He stood at one of the wall terminals and was frantically trying to log in and make contact with his people. One by one he called his team. They were slow to answer, which wasn’t a terrible surprise, but soon enough they answered.
Castor and Ellie’s faces appeared on screen first. Both were confused, if even a bit annoyed, to see Elias’ face. They appeared to be walking near the river.
“Sir, is there something we can…”
“There’s been a bombing. I want you to hunker down and avoid other people and mass transit for now. I want you to turn on your automated status check-ins now,” Elias said, “I will contact you back shortly.”
Elias then disconnected the call. He noticed on the screen that three more people had accepted the contacts. He quickly merged Viviana, Alberic, and Heva’s contacts into one.
They, much like the previous two, looked just as annoyed and surprised. Viviana even looked a bit guilty, something Elias glossed over and didn’t think too much of. Elias then began to speak.
“Apologies for the interruption, there’s been a bombing in the entertainment district. Turn on your automated status check-ins now and bunker down where you are at. I will contact you shortly with additional instructions.”
Linus and Alberic were the next pair to answer the summons. Elias repeated his work and connected the three of them into a single call. Linus gave away no discernible tells in his mood, but Alberic looked shell-shocked to be talking to Elias at the moment.
“Apologies to you two, there’s been a bombing. Stay put and activate your automated status check-ins. I will be contacting you both shortly.”
“I was two blocks from the bombing, sir,” Alberic said, “The police have the area cordoned the area, I was on the outside of their interrogation zone, and they are not allowing anyone nearby.”
“Were you meeting anyone there?” Elias hurriedly asked.
“Yes sir,” Alberic took a deep breath, “Draco, Katherina, and Aella were going to a sports bar to have dinner.”
Elias then looked at the three remaining contacts that had not been connected yet. A sickening feeling formed in his stomach.
“Holy shit. You were lucky to avoid that. When were you meeting?” Linus’ face looked pained, which belied the steely tone that he spoke.
“Within the next thirty to forty minutes. I do not know what bus they took. I was under the impression that Draco and Katherina were together, and Aella was meeting us separately.”
“Stay put, I will get back to you shortly,” Elias spoke with an urgency and concern that his crew hadn’t heard or seen before.
Elias was now panicking. Draco and Katherina’s tablets appeared to be offline. Aella was online but wasn’t answering the urgent communication request. He began hyperventilating as he paced back and forth in front of the terminal.
“No, no, no this cannot be happening. Not again…” Elias frantically paced before he placed his hands on either side of the terminal and stared at the screen.
For five agonizing minutes, the status quo remained. No answers were given to his frantic and urgent communication requests. He then spun around and looked as if he was in deep thought.
Then it dawned on Elias that he could link into the Xenuian health sensors, even turn them on remotely. They hadn’t technically been shut off; they just weren’t something that anyone was actively monitoring though. Elias switched to a different tab on the terminal. Now he remembered why they had neglected monitoring their proprietary hardware through the Confederate hardware.
After ten painfully long minutes of setting up the communication settings, which they had done in their old location but not in their current one, the setup was complete. What he saw caused his heart to sink. The worst possible scenario appeared to have occurred.
Neither Draco’s nor Katherina’s monitor was registering anything. In fact, the historical readings, which were only available due to a tablet that was linked in and set up to receive that information, were within read range of the terminal and it had pulled that data from the device. Their data was cut off roughly at the time of the blast.
Aella’s was still transmitting, but there were no life signs being transmitted. The change in life signs also corresponded with the timing of the blast. The realization of what had happened was sinking in. Two of his crew were on the very bus that the anarchist exploded. Aella was within the blast range, either walking to her destination or in a nearby car or taxi.
Three more members of his crew were now dead. His team was now at a level below the estimated losses. Tears ran down Elias’ cheeks. He didn’t know what to do, but he knew he needed the crew to return home. There was no telling what else could happen.
He switched the terminal back to the communication tab and sent a very simple message: ‘SOS, I believe the bombing has claimed three of our lives. Avoid mass transit and return back to base ASAP. We need to confirm and discuss our future here on this accursed planet.’